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Chapter 10 - Exploit

Miana shook her head. Can't leave. You're the only one keeping me safe from him right now. And she was surprised to feel an ounce of compassion for Sandra. A few months ago, she would have relished another chance to hate her main rival. But seeing her sitting there, clutching herself and waiting in anguish for Miana to lash out at her... Miana just didn't have the heart.

"It's okay, Sandra," Miana said. "You did what you thought you had to do. I'm just glad you told me now."

Sandra stared into Miana's eyes, seeming to search for any sign of anger or blame. After a few moments, a grateful smile crossed her face. "Thank you. I don't deserve your forgiveness, but I'm happy to have it all the same." She paused, her smile going crooked, a playful gleam in her eye. "Well, now that that ugliness is out of the way... there was something else about that day that I haven't told you."

"Really? What's that?"

"So, back in the alley, that night you and I... well, you said something about how I was rude to you just to drive you away, deny that I had feelings for you" Sandra said. "Well, that wasn't exactly true. See, for a long time after the two of us both got on Jessup's team... I was pretty sure I actually hated you."

"Hated, really?"

"Oh, yeah," Sandra said, a laugh in her voice. "I had spent so many years working my ass off to get to where I was. Pushing myself through high school, forgoing a social life so I can graduate with straight As. Then college, all the effort I put into graduating magna cum laude. And after all that time I spent and sacrifices I had to make to get to work with Dr. Jessup, I get assigned to the same team as Miana Xing, child prodigy. The more I learned about you, the more you drove me crazy. All of these things that I had worked so hard to accomplish, and you had done them all years before I had. Concepts that it had taken me countless hours of study to grasp, and to you it was like basic arithmetic. It was unfair of me, but I couldn't help resenting you for that."

"Wow," Miana responded. "I never knew. All that time, I had thought that maybe I'd said something to you or-"

Sandra was quick to shake her head. "No, it wasn't your fault. You never said or did anything to justify me not liking you. Hell, that almost made it worse. With how brilliant and talented you were, you had every right to be the biggest prima donna in the physics department. But from the moment I met you, you were always such a warm person. Always willing to help a friend, never complaining even after long nights of working in the lab. As we kept working together, it got to be harder and harder for me to keep hating you. But I still kept forcing myself to feel that way... until that day after test #47."

She paused, moving on the couch to shift a little closer to Miana. "When I thought that you might get kicked off the team... I was terrified. Not just because I'd have to go against Jessup, but for... more than that. A few months before then, I would have cheered for you to take a fall. But that day, when it looked like you might be punished for something you didn't do..." she placed a hand on her chest. "It hurt. Felt like it came out of nowhere, but the thought of seeing you in pain... it made me feel like I was in pain. And I realized that, despite forcing myself to keep feeling that resentment for so long... that I liked having you in my life."

Thinking back now, it seemed obvious. All those times that Sandra had gotten upset when Miana had gone against the testing guidelines. Maybe at first it had been just to ride her ass, but after that day, Sandra had actually been trying to protect her. Keep her operating within the guidelines to avoid any repercussions. And considering what Jessup had ended up doing once he found out about Miana's late-night alterations in the lab, Sandra had been right on the money.

Sandra let out the slightest of chuckles. "You know, I could have sworn I was being so subtle. Waiting until you weren't looking before sneaking glances at you in the laboratory. But I guess I must have been more obvious than I thought." She reached a hand up to play with a lock of her blond hair. "So, Miana, when did you figure out that I had fallen for you?"